Dawn K Homeschool

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For more detail about what we're using each day, please see this post. I thought I would give you an idea of how our first two days have been structured.  We start with subjects both boys have in common, and we begin at 10:00 am. 1.  They work through a logic worksheet.  They have found these to be fun.  This takes about 5-10 minutes. 2. They complete a mapping exercise.  These have also been enjoyable and take 5-10 minutes. 3. They then complete a page from Daily Grams which takes about 5 minutes. Every day includes an exercise in combining two or more sentences into one.  This portion counts as writing too. 4. We proceed to spelling which has also gone quickly.  I am using a new program this year which I think we will all like ( Megawords ).  If you are new to the program, you are supposed to start with book 1, so they have been able to do spelling together.  This takes about 5-10 minutes per page. 5. Next is writing.  The first...

Little Ben is still awake.   I hear a little kiss when I walk by his room, so I return the audible kiss.  Poor thing.  So, I am still awake -- waiting to turn the hall light off. So, I thought I would take a moment to explain my new meal plan .  I am hoping this will help make the days go more smoothly. I have a 4x6 index file box with dividers and index cards.  On each divider is written a category; my categories are : soups and stews sandwiches breakfast Italian casseroles Mexican beef chicken fish miscellaneous On a card, I write a dinner idea.  Many are pretty simple -- like beef/veggie soup with grilled cheese and salad.  I don't have anything listed that I've never tried.  I am personally tired of feeling guilty because I don't come up with new things.  Instead, I am going to have a container full of ideas, and I can try something when I feel like it. For items with recipes (like the blueberry pancakes I...

Someone asked me to post more information about our weekly schedule, so here goes. Logic Handout (5-10 minutes, simultaneous ) I have a binder full of various logic puzzles, many like Mind Benders, that I had torn out of teacher’s magazines several years ago. There are also visual and mathematical logic puzzles. I have decided to just plunge in and have my boys complete one of these a day. Handwriting (5 minutes each) This is simply their first instruction in cursive. Ben: Getty-Dubay Italic Cursive; Nathan: Zaner-Bloser Cursive. Dictation, Aesop for Children by Milo Winter (10-15 minutes; simultaneous) Essentially, I will read a fable to the boys. I will then dictate a sentence, perhaps even the moral, to them. They will in turn write from dictation. Narration, Aesop for Children by Milo Winter (10 minutes each) Essentially, I will read a different fable to each of the boys. They will each narrate to me and in turn write their narration. For this, I will choose the shorter passages. M...

Here is our weekly schedule for our upcoming school year.  Items highlighted in blue are independent.

I always know what's next in line for the school day, but I wanted something to check off to make sure we covered everything between interruptions and such. So, I quickly typed this up today and used it for the first time. There's such satisfaction (for a person like myself) to check off a list! As you can see, this is for the things we do every day. I didn't bother listing those other things.

I have finalized my list of curricula for the upcoming school year. To see what we're using, dowload these .pdf files. http://savefile.com/projects/808665756